Understanding that the Roman Empire was very multi-ethnic by the time that the East/West schism happened, how "Roman" was Justinian or Constantine? Were they habitually marrying Roman citizens to keep as Roman as possible, or were they more often marrying local aristocracy to build local political power?

And what heritage would we consider those aristocrats? We're they more Greek, Anatolian Greek (i.e. Helleno-Turkish mix), or Turkish?

I've read some articles about it online, which I'm sure you can find by searching "suffocation in ash punishment" and such things. From what I gather, there was a tower with a huge heap of ash at the bottom (some sources say it's the incenerated ashes of other condemned criminals). The person is thrown into it from the top, and then people on the outside rotate "fans" which stir up the ash and kick it into the air, and the person inside slowly suffocates on the ash.

Does anyone know more about this or how it worked?

Did it truly differ than any other American wartime small town? When reading about it, it's easy to imagine it as a Twin Peak or Wayward Pines-esque existence. Did people truly not know what they were assisting in building?

I read today that by the end of the War of the Triple Alliance, Paraguay's population was reduced to 221000, including only 28000 men.

How did Paraguay cope with this massive lack of men? And how did it effect the culture of Paraguay long-term? For example, did it make Paraguayans less sexist in dividing labour, or more accepting of polygamy, or something like that?

Stephen Hawking's ashes were recently interred at Westminster Abbey. Normally monarchs and heads of government are buried in the Abbey.

Who decides who can be buried at Westminster Abbey?

Does the person to be buried have any say in the matter? (If they give other instructions before death, can this be overruled?)

Is there a formalised process for selection? How does one nominate a person to be buried there?

The Pagan gods they worshipped were supposed to be located on a Mountain in Greece (Olympus). Did this make the Greeks revere the Hellenic homeland like Christians view Jerusalem as a Holy Land in modern times?

Hi guys, I have to do an undergrad paper on the reasons for the Vietnam War. I have already explored containment/ domino theory but I'm kinda stuck for my last point. I was considering writing about American exceptionalism as catalyst, i.e. the notion that the United States was a guardian of the 'free world' and had a duty to preserve and protect democracy but I don't know if this is far fetched? I can find a lot of sources on how the war undermined American exceptionalism, but not how it contributed to the decision to intervene. Do you think this would be a rather dubious point? Or do you have any suggestions about what I should research instead? Thank-you!

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I had the opportunity to visit the Gozo temples on a recent holiday and they are staggeringly impressive, putting Britain's Stonehenge and Avebury to shame in comparison. I saw a question earlier today about how successive cultures in the UK viewed Stonehenge, so I was wondering how the Maltese viewed their own, intricately complex structures?

I've been looking around but couldn't really get hold on anything reliable. I'm interessted in the daily life of the soldiers and what they thought and felt. There motivations for going to war against people they have never met. Are the sources or even books/papers that deal with that? Thanks in advance

This really baffles me.

It would be interesting to know how atheists (before Darwin) thought about the origins of life.

Also, how much did we advance in cartography during WW1 and WW2?

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Given the importance the founding fathers and the power they wielded, it seems strange that in this period political assassinations were no where to be found.

I just finished watching the Ken Burns Vietnam documentary and one of the veterans interviewed commented that amazing music was being produced in the late 60’s.

While it seems obvious to us now, were people aware of it at the time?

I’m aware of various music festivals (eg Woodstock, Monterey, Altamont) but how much of the attendance there was purely a political statement and how much was an acknowledgement that music was undergoing a massive change?

I’m aware of Bob Dylan’s move to electric and the efforts of the Beatles and Hendrix to get more from multi-track recordings but I don’t have a sense of whether the average person was tuned into what was happening at the time.

When bands began to gain rapid fame in Seattle in the early 90’s (eg Nirvana, Soundgarden, etc.) there was a very tangible sense that something was happening. It was reflected in lyrics by Mudhoney (“everybody loves us; everybody loves our town”) and others.

I am not aware of that level of self-awareness in the late 60’s, very early 70’s era and the music charts of the day seem to show very strange music acts coming up to the top. Only on rare occasion do you see a “Light My Fire” by the Doors and almost nothing from Hendrix, late Beatles, Stones, Grateful Dead, etc.

Robert E. Lee famously refused to serve in the Union Army in a campaign against his own state of Virginia. He then resigned, left for the South, and joined the Confederacy.

Why was he, and other generals like him, allowed to do so? Wasn't it obvious they were going to join the war on the other side? Why weren't they interned or otherwise prevented to leave?